Thank you for Subscribing to CIO Applications Weekly Brief
Jeff Hudson, PresidentIn an interview with CIO Applications, Jeff Hudson, the president of SLS, gives us insights into the industry developments and informs how the company supports its clients in handling RFID technology. He also highlights how they help clients overcome the complexities in the supply chain with productive roadmaps and strategies.
How would you like to put forward an overview of your company?
Our company was established in 2005, with a mission to assist Walmart’s compliance initiative that they had with consumer packaged goods manufacturers. Back then, we were trying to RFID enabled tags at the case and pallet level to help eliminate the human intervention in scanning barcodes. We were ahead of the technology in those days, but the technology efficiently managed to catch up, evolve, and improve with time.
Our company’s core motive was to develop both hardware and software along with service offerings that we could extend to our customer base. We aimed at putting technology in use cases and showing our customers that they could extract unprecedented benefits from the utilization of those technologies. This enabled us to move forward as a leader in the industry.
Give us an idea about the technical implementations that have gone into the making of SLS’s offerings.
Initially, as technology evolved, there were many difficulties in reading the RFID tags as the antennas were not effective. But when major chip manufacturers such as Impinj and NXP enhanced their chip technology and the tags themselves, reading those tags became much easier. However, this gave birth to a new challenge. While reading the tags, it became difficult to refrain from taking into consideration the unwanted tags. To tackle this issue, we developed our marquee product called smartPORTAL that we install at the dock doors. In this product, we use wave antenna technology, which enables us to read the tags that are to be read. We evolved our antenna technology, and at the same time, the industry evolved the chip technology too. This simultaneous development paved the way for us to increase the read rates on different kinds of products, and eventually, we were able to offer more solutions to the wider market.
The smartPORTAL is designed to function as an IoT device that can scan at the door and send messages over their network utilizing minimum bandwidth
Could you brief us about RAIN RFID technology?
RAIN is the industry term for the 900 megahertz passive RFID technology. Impinj, being one of the catalysts in developing the RAIN organization, wanted to give the technology a name that wasn’t just associated with RFID as it is a broad term.
What are some of the other challenges that SLS is mitigating currently?
Between the years 2006 to 2010, several RFID technology manufacturers were in the barcode industry. There were companies in the market selling RFID technology without a proper understanding and the necessary skills to implement it. The industry thus had to encounter many failed projects. On the contrary, our company is 100 percent RFID focused, and our employees are well-versed in the technology.
What are the key differentiating factors of the products and solutions that the company offers to its clients?
Our company is focused on making technology affordable so that the clients can drive better ROI. The smartPORTAL is designed to function as an IoT device that can scan at the door and send messages over their network utilizing minimum bandwidth. Those messages are consumed into a back end system. Also, our ease of integration with the technology makes implementation uncomplicated and keeps the end-user engaged.
Our go-to-market strategy is highly focused on resellers. In one of our associations with a reseller, we collaborated with them as their partner and RFID arm. We intended to help them rely on us to gain better expectations and reference sites that they could utilize while expanding their RFID business. This highlights the fact that it is not merely our products and solutions that help us stand out, but also our assistance during implementations as well.
Tell us more about the RFID mobile devices that you provide to your clients and the enterprise inventory tracking software that can be accessed through Android and Apple.
We have a Portland, Oregon Office that does the mobile device development and our tag development. We also have devices that are made for handheld units that one can attach to an android or iOS device.
What is the significance of the portable inventory solution that you provide along with the enterprise inventory tracking software? Also share instances of how smartPORTAL, as well as smartPALLET, works out for your clients?
A big-box retailer installed our smartPORTAL in their distribution centers, and they could eliminate the fork truck driver from scanning the barcode. Using our solution, the retailer gained 25 percent of efficiency in loading trucks.
Tell us more about the strategic partnerships that the company has and how they are playing along in the success of the company.
We have strong partnerships with manufacturers. We resell their product and are tightly engaged with them to make sure we give them end-users’ feedback to help improve their product. Our biggest partner right now is Impinj, which is one of the leaders in the industry. We are also associated with Avery Dennison, which is a major tag manufacturer in the industry, and we provide them the software.
What are your goals for the future?
We are building a new 25,000 square foot manufacturing facility and are looking forward to doubling our number of employees in the next 12 months.
× 
CIO Applications Weekly Brief
Be first to read the latest tech news, Industry Leader's Insights, and CIO interviews of medium and large enterprises exclusively from CIO Applications
